Chapter 58: Breaking and Then Establishing, the Way of Peace

It was different from the times when previous monarchs passed away.

The passing of Liu Zhi did not cause much of a stir in the world today.

And who would even care?

For the common people of the Great Han, they would only care about other things when the threat of death was removed.

The departure of the Emperor had absolutely no value to them now.

Luoyang.

After a lapse of three years, Gu Xi returned to Luoyangcheng once again.

He was already nearly eighty years old.

Yet, there seemed to be a hint of vitality in his entire being, and even his hunched frame seemed to have improved slightly.

That’s right, Gu Xi did not want to die anymore.

He had thought everything through.

He intended to make one last desperate attempt for the Great Han.

This change in mindset still had its effects.

He first went to pay his respects to Liu Zhi, and then went to see the current Emperor.

——Liu Hong.

Liu Zhi’s death was destined to cause an imbalance of power.

The eunuchs who had followed Liu Zhi to act with power and influence in the past had long since suffered a severe reckoning.

The anger of the scholars had been pent up for too many years.

This was the cleverness of Liu Zhi.

He deliberately arranged it this way so that the new monarch, Liu Hong, could quickly secure the throne by purging the eunuchs.

This was indeed a very good method.

Liu Hong tacitly approved of the scholars' counterattack, which earned him a good reputation among them and could be considered as securing his throne.

However, perhaps it was because of something Liu Zhi had said to him.

He was just like Liu Zhi.

His attitude when facing Gu Xi was very warm, acting entirely with the humility of a junior.

Yet, he had absolutely no intention of letting Gu Xi enter the court.

And this time, the attitude of the scholars also gradually changed.

The fickleness of the human heart could be reflected in this.

In the hearts of the scholars, Liu Hong was now completely different from the Liu Zhi of the past.

He let these scholars see hope.

Under these circumstances, these court officials and scholars were not as eager as they once were to have Gu Xi return to court.

Human hearts have always been like this.

When this matter spread from Luoyang once again, the reactions across the world were immense.

The new monarch’s attitude.

It was as if it had extinguished their last shred of hope, and disturbances appeared one after another in various places.

But the rise of the scholars quickly suppressed these rebellions.

The situation of the entire world returned once again to the brink of collapse.

What surprised Gu Yi was that Gu Xi really did not make any special moves.

He had originally thought.

That Gu Xi would eventually take that step.

To hold the reins of government alone and do his utmost to fight for the whole world once more.

After all, he had already realized the root cause of the current situation.

But Gu Xi had actually quieted down, even more so than in the past.

He stayed within the Hou Fu, teaching the sixth generation of the Gu family, and did not even see the court officials and scholars.

This truly made Gu Yi extremely astonished.

Hou Fu.

Gu Xi was explaining the ideas he had deeply contemplated to the sixth generation of the Gu family.

The sixth generation of the Gu family were no longer young.

Although none of them had entered the court as officials yet.

Each of them was already capable of having unique insights into the current political situation.

This was the advantage of the Gu family’s education.

Listening to Gu Xi’s explanation, Gu Wei was silent for a long time, and could not help but frown and ask: "Grandfather, if this matter is truly so, wouldn't it be targeting our Gu family?"

He had already forgotten the words he said in his childhood.

Now he had been influenced by the limitations of the era; Gu Xi had only just spoken of land measurement and restricting the great clans, and he had already thought of this point.

"What our Gu family wants has never been a momentary gain."

Gu Xi’s expression did not change in the slightest as he looked at the few people before him and replied: "Just like when our ancestor, the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor, returned to Hebei, and the Marquis of Literary Achievement relinquished great power."

"If this matter is never resolved."

"I predict it will become a great disaster in the future, and even our Gu family will not be able to escape it."

"Moreover, our Gu family aspires to ten thousand generations."

"What is there to care about regarding this momentary gain?"

His expression was incomparably serious.

For some time now, he had thought about this problem seriously more than once.

The common people would absolutely not endure such treatment forever.

If it always remained this way, in time, the anger of these people would destroy everything.

Upon hearing this, Gu Wei immediately fell into deep thought.

The other Gu family members were the same.

It was not until a moment later that they nodded one after another, seemingly understanding the logic behind it.

"Grandfather."

Gu Wei frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "Grandson believes that this matter is likely not so easy to accomplish."

"Nowadays, great clans everywhere are annexing land."

"Even our Gu family is among them."

"But would other great clans have the determination to cut themselves like our Gu family?"

He was indeed a very talented child.

Just like Gu Xi in his youth, his perspective on everything was extremely precise.

If there was anything bad, it was that Gu Yi felt his personality was somewhat arrogant, even more so than Gu Xi’s had been.

Hearing this, Gu Xi smiled: "Correct."

"This matter is indeed difficult to handle."

"That is why I allowed the political situation to change and displayed an attitude of absolutely not participating in it."

Gu Xi’s expression suddenly became serious.

This time, the Gu family members were a bit confused.

No matter how genius one was, how could they fully grasp Gu Xi’s deep meaning?

Facing his own descendants, Gu Xi did not hide anything and said again: "The difficulty of this matter far exceeds the past."

"The world will surely fall into great chaos."

"Only by breaking and then establishing can things be accomplished."

His gaze became sharp again, staring intently at the group of Gu family members before him.

"Grandfather does not know how much longer he can live."

"But you descendants must remember."

"Even if I truly die, if you ever have such an opportunity in the future, you must still carry this out."

Everyone nodded one after another.

Only Gu Chen, who was just over four years old, remained at a loss, his expression slightly dull.

Gu Yi had been observing all of this, and his heart was exceptionally shaken.

As expected, the Gu family members are indeed worthy of having flexible moral bottom lines.

Gu Xi was clearly waiting to break and then establish.

In fact, this was also inevitable.

The current scholar-official clans would never support Gu Xi’s land measurement, let alone the subsequent restrictions he wanted to place on the great clans.

Moreover, this was not the most critical point.

Gu Xi also wanted to give the common people of the world more opportunities and wanted to expand the examinations during the recommendation system once again.

This was already equivalent to redistributing resources.

If he were to propose this matter.

I fear he would truly have to face the entire world with the strength of one man.

The current situation is long since different from the time of Liu Xiu and Liu Zhuang.

The strength of the great clans and the entanglement of their interests far exceed those of that era.

Only by breaking things down and then rebuilding them might there be a sliver of a chance for success; clearly, this is also the fundamental reason why Gu Xi ignores the imperial court!

Gu Yi was extremely shaken by this.

He also did not know if this matter would succeed.

But compared to the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in original history, this matter is not necessarily without hope!

But the prerequisite is that Gu Xi cannot die!

Yet how could Gu Xi not die?

The Longevity Card is indeed a divine object.

But he is already over eighty years old now.

Human lifespan has its limits; the lifespans of the ancients and modern people are inherently unequal.

According to modern scientific research into the time of natural human death, it is at most between 120 and 150 years.

There are many factors involved in this.

The nutritional components ingested by modern people are things the ancients could not ingest.

According to Gu Yi’s conjecture, Gu Xi probably will not necessarily make it past one hundred years.

Can he really wait for that day?

If Gu Xi dies, unless one of the Gu Shizi descendants can reach the same level as Gu Xi.

Gu Yi looked at these sixth-generation Gu Shizi descendants again, their personality attributes flashing through his mind one by one.

He had already been observing these people for some time.

After all, if nothing unexpected happens, the object he is to control next will be among these people.

Currently, the sixth-generation Gu Shizi descendants are naturally led by Gu Wei.

Even Gu Xi holds this grandson of his in high regard.

He believes that he is the one who will carry the burden for the Gu family in the future.

But Gu Yi does not think so.

Gu Wei’s attributes are indeed good, but at best they are only on par with Gu Liang, and his personality is not even as good as Gu Liang’s.

And the most critical point is that the coming period of time is different from what Gu Liang faced back then.

What must be faced next is a period of great historical upheaval.

Although the Great Han has already changed, Gu Yi is also forced to consider this point.

What is the next period of time?

This is an era with a resounding reputation throughout the entire long river of history, and the heroes and outstanding figures who appear during it are countless.

Are Gu Wei’s attributes sufficient?

Clearly not.

It can only be left for Gu Yi to control personally.

What Gu Yi cares about more is, of course, Gu Chen.

Ever since the "Wall-Breaking Card" was used.

All of Gu Chen’s attributes have turned into question marks; even Gu Yi cannot investigate them.

The attribute fluctuations of the Wall-Breaking Card seem to depend on a factor of time.

Gu Chen is already four years old now.

But he still has not shown any obvious attribute changes.

Compared to his peers, his current performance is indeed much worse.

However, Gu Yi still observed some of his personality.

Gu Chen has an unyielding personality in his bones.

This is a very rare personality.

One can tell just by his performance while learning to walk.

Even though he fell many times, he did not cry, and his childish eyes were full of determination.

It is precisely because of this that Gu Yi is increasingly looking forward to this child’s future.

Compared to Liu Zhi, who was educated by Gu Xi.

Liu Hong is indeed far inferior.

He can be said to be exactly the same as in the original history.

Even because he was spared the period of power struggles, the weaknesses in his personality erupted even more rapidly.

He began to sell offices and titles, to a degree far exceeding the period of Liu Zhi.

Furthermore, he embarked on large-scale construction projects one after another.

He collected rare treasures from all over the world for his own amusement.

The scholars will not change.

The moment they gain momentum, imperial power will weaken.

But neither the maternal relatives nor the eunuchs can tolerate the loss of imperial power.

They can monopolize power, but others cannot.

Liu Hong will even less stand by and watch the scholars grow strong again and threaten imperial power.

—The factional strife reappears.

Under Liu Hong’s intentional actions, the eunuchs rose to power again and began to suppress the scholars.

He carried out personnel transfers one after another.

He established the Attendant Secretariat to check the Imperial Secretariat, so as to weaken the real power of the scholars.

All of this was like a reappearance of scenes from the past.

Even Liu Hong’s doting on the eunuchs far exceeded that of Liu Zhi back then.

A great upheaval in the court and the wild!

From the moment Liu Hong sat firmly on the throne, these scholars had already fallen into a natural disadvantage.

The struggle between the two sides once again led to changes in the administration of officials.

—It was in the fourth year of Jianning.

As Zhang Jian, the Supervisor of Shanyang Commandery, impeached the Regular Attendant Hou Lan for disturbing the people, the struggle between the eunuchs and the scholars reached its peak once again.

The eunuch Cao Jie falsely accused the partisans of slandering the state.

From then on, the Proscription of Partisans reappeared.

And this time, Liu Hong’s methods far exceeded those of the past Liu Zhi, as he purged partisans all over the country.

Cao Luan, the Administrator of Yongchang, submitted a memorial to plead for the partisans, requesting the imperial court to rehabilitate them.

Liu Hong was furious and had him arrested and sent back to the capital, where he was tortured to death in prison.

And he launched an even larger-scale purge.

In an instant, the whole country was in an uproar.

The scholars once again found Gu Xi, begging Gu Xi to come forward.

At the beginning, Gu Xi still would not see them.

But later, as more and more people came, he had to see some of them.

Yet how could he possibly come forward?

Summoned at will and dismissed at will?

Gu Xi is someone who holds a grudge.

Since he had already decided to break things down and then rebuild, it was impossible for him to get involved in these matters.

He directly used his old age as an excuse to send everyone away.

Such an act naturally made the eunuchs act even more boldly.

In an instant, the entire Great Han fell into a haze.

Gu Xi did not get involved in any of this.

He even began to cultivate his energy.

Gu Yi could clearly feel the change in Gu Xi’s mindset.

This change was too obvious.

It made him go from being able to face death calmly to now gradually beginning to cherish his life.

He is waiting for an opportunity.

Waiting for an opportunity to turn the Great Han upside down, to break things down and then rebuild!

Of course, he would naturally pay attention to the situation in the world.

Nowadays, there are more and more displaced people all over the Great Han; it can be said that they are increasing exponentially.

What made him quite surprised was.

These displaced people had not yet caused any particularly large disturbances.

It is said that an organization called the Way of Peace had appeared, soothing the hearts of the displaced people in various places.

Its rapid development far exceeded what others imagined.

It had even begun to overshadow Gu Xi’s reputation among the people.

Everyone is spreading the word that the leader of the Way of Peace possesses immortal arts, and can help people cure illnesses using talismans.

Although the entire imperial court feels that Zhang Jiao is skilled at moral education and can keep the displaced commoners from rebelling, they have quite a favorable impression of him.

But Gu Xi can sense it.

The opportunity he is waiting for is likely related to this Way of Peace.

The scale of the Way of Peace.

If any accident were to occur, it would absolutely cause a tremor throughout the entire Great Han.

Gu Xi even specifically had people inquire about Zhang Jiao.

But he didn't know until he inquired, and he was shocked once he did.

—Zhang Jiao actually came from the Gu family private school.

This news truly gave Gu Xi a start, and he immediately had someone send over Zhang Jiao's information.

After reading it, he became even more firm in his own thoughts.

A person like Zhang Jiao is definitely not someone who will remain in a pond for long.

Sure enough, on one night in the third month of the fourth year of Jianning.

Gu Xi suddenly received a letter.

The content of the letter was very simple.

"Within a few months, I will surely help Lord Gu regain control of the imperial court."

Looking at the content of this letter, Gu Xi frowned deeply, as if he had already vaguely guessed something.

Gu Yi was also incomparably surprised in his heart at this moment.

He never expected that the changes in events would be so great.

He had naturally noticed the Way of Peace long ago, but he just hadn't noticed that Zhang Jiao would have such an experience.

And according to the current developments.

Zhang Jiao's Way of Peace far exceeds the original history.

Because of the increase in the Great Han's population, coupled with the fact that he learned some of the Gu family's methods.

These are all reasons for it.

What Gu Yi is more concerned about is whether Zhang Jiao will choose to take action ahead of schedule.

If that were truly the case.

Then the changes to history would be a bit too great.

The likes of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have not yet fully grown up!

Then what will this history eventually turn into?

If the chaotic times arrive, to what extent will the land of Shenzhou be fought over?

Even Gu Yi cannot be entirely certain of all this.

PS: Begging for monthly tickets~~

(End of this chapter)